A quotation from the article “What is so great about social-emotional learning” by J. R. Wilson (later in this blog piece):

“Which comes first, feeling good about yourself so you can
accomplish something worthwhile,
or accomplishing something worthwhile
so you have something to feel good about?“

Search online, and on the Table of Contents page of this site, for other information about SEL (Social Emotional Learning). Social emotional learning (SEL) has been taking place in schools for decades, but SEL is now specifically named in the schools, and is touted as what education should be all about.

ESSA (federal education program) provides funding for SEL. That is one result of ESSA being nationally implemented. No, we have not gotten rid of Common Core and federal control of education. You can find the following information online:

Also search this site for “ESSA”(Every Student Succeed Act) – the federal legislation that cemented Common Core into federal law. Note: people in Congress and the U.S. Department of Education deny what ESSA did — and instead they parrot words claiming ESSA eliminated Common Core — claiming that education is now decided on a local level. That is not what happened. People too often parrot what they are told, without finding out for themselves. Search this site for “Betsy DeVos.”

Understanding what SEL actually is, will enlighten you about:
1) a main cause of the dumbing down of American education;
2) the data-gathering on identified students and everyone that touches their lives;
3) the collecting of personal data, and storing it with personal identifiers — then distributing that data at will;
4) and the mind and behavior control that is actively taking place in schools across the country. [This is all Type #2 education, rather than Type #1 education – see Home Page of this site]

Jane Robbins and Emmett McGroarty sent out an article, part of which is in this blog post.

In their article they point out that DeVos recommends making all learning individualized, with each student in front of a computer, possibly at home.

Jane and Emmett point out that: “so-called personalized learning is actually depersonalized, computerized training rather than genuine education.”

Robbins and McGroarty suggest Betsy DeVos improve education by:

“(1) freeing the states from all federal mandates to the extent she can under the law; (2) working with Congress to revise ESSA to eliminate all mandates; and (3) creating a workable plan to shut down her department.” (The U.S. Department of Education)

Editorial comment – more needs to be done:

There also needs to be a change in the content of what is taught in schools, and how students are being taught in schools — changing from Type #2 education, and returning to Type #1 education. [Type #1 and Type #2 education are discussed on the Home Page of this website, and in blogs: 0005, 0091, and 0247]

Teachers need to be taught to teach, rather than being trained and forced to be facilitators and baby-sitters, spying and reporting on students, parents and other teachers.

ESSA didn’t change some of what was already going on in many schools, but since it became federal law in December 2015, it has been officially forcing every school to comply.

Betsy DeVos’ American Enterprise Institute (AEI) speech linked in full

You can read here the full transcript of the speech U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos gave on January 16, 2018, at an American Enterprise Institute (AEI) conference, “Bush-Obama School Reform: Lessons Learned.”Continue reading →

““Too many of the people selected for K-12 policy can be expected to continue the trajectory launched by progressive educators a century ago and reaching new heights under Obama and his secretaries,” she [Dr. Susan Berry] asserts.… ”

Dr. Bill Bennett, secretary of education under President Ronald Reagan, told attendees at the Values Voter Summit Friday that President Donald Trump’s Cabinet is a “more conservative cabinet” than Reagan’s Cabinet was.

Bennett – now a radio host and author – specifically named current Education Secretary Betsy DeVos “my friend … who is fighting to empower parents,” as an example of conservatism, and defended her signature policy of school choice.

However, both Bennett and DeVos have come under fire from many conservative parents throughout America for their support – mentioned or otherwise – for the Common Core standards. The movement to eradicate the federally funded and supported Common Core has been led by one of the most significant “populist” grassroots efforts in decades.

As Breitbart News reported in 2014, Bennett drew the ire of anti-Common Core parents throughout the country after penning an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that made a “conservative case for Common Core.”

In his column, Bennett reiterated all the “talking points” of the pro-Common Core education establishment. His remarks – especially from one who served in Reagan’s Cabinet under a president who had desired to eliminate the U.S. Education Department (USED) – led to an uproar. Ultimately, Bennett admitted that public relations, lobbying, and business consulting firm DCI Group had paid him to write the column.Continue reading →

John Newkirk will be speaking October 17, 2017
at the High Country Republican Club (HCRC)

Next week, October 17, 2017, the HCRC’s special guest speaker will be John Newkirk. He was secretary of the Jefferson County, Colorado, School Board from 2013 – 2015.

He will be speaking about his September 20, 2017 article that was published in our local newspaper.

Time, cost and location of the HCRC meeting

The breakfast meeting will be at the Lewis Barn, in Evergreen. Cost of breakfast is $10. We begin our meeting at 7:00 a.m., and end around 8:00 a.m., or a little later. John will plan to stay for a few minutes to visit with people.

Author’s note: A number of legislators have contacted me about a suggested curriculum put forth by our new school superintendent — and I was not the only one surprised by its one-sidedness. My resulting Opinion column appeared in the Courier newspapers on 9/20/2017:

Newly-seated Jeffco Public Schools superintendent Jason Glass certainly wasted no time in thrusting our students into the political mosh pit. Continue reading →

Dr. Kim Holmes will be speaking at Colorado Christian University (CCU) this coming Monday evening. Over a year ago he wrote a book The Closing of the Liberal Mind: How Groupthink and Intolerance Define the Left. Groupthink and intolerance are what is “taught” in our society, through government schools and the media in general. It has increasingly moved into law.

Our academic system in the United States is designed to keep students focused only on what the system wants them to know, or feel, or do. They are not equipped to make their own decisions, but rather to carry out the wishes of the “education” system.

Two years, one month, and one week ago, on July 28, 2015, I posted my first blog on this website.

A listing of all the posts can be found in the Table of Contents — each entry in the Table of Contents has a link to the corresponding blog post.

The Home Page shows what is wrong with education —
and the most critical thing to understand
in order to reverse the decline in education today – and to save our nation.

How do we fix the rapid decline in the education of too many people who do not graduate, and too many who do graduate from High Schools, Colleges and Universities?

It is not the condition of the buildings and other facilities — it is not the talent and good intentions and dedication of highly trained and competent teachers, administrators, counselors, teacher librarians, and all the support staff — it is not the freedom to choose the school a child attends (especially if all schools have Type #2 education) — it is not the amount of interest of the parents, or of the students — it is not computerizing all education and gathering more and more data on children, families, teachers, etc. — it is not simply emphasis on certain subjects like sports, music, art, science, technology, mathematics, language arts, reading, writing — it is not focus on becoming a global citizen — it is not in forcing all students to accept everything that students do and believe (unless they are politically incorrect). Standardizing all attitudes, values, beliefs and behaviors is not the answer, either — and training children to want to change their sexual identity will not improve education standards.

The thing that really matters is THE TYPE OF EDUCATION BEING TAUGHT IN THE CURRICULUM — THE CONTENT. Type #2 education is taking over our country — to the detriment of everyone. We need a shift back to Type #1.

In this article, Donna Garner explains how the Charlottesville situation is a product of the Obama Administration’s anti-American Common Core agenda.

At the end of her article are some resources Donna Garner sent out that reveal some background behind the problems — going back to the Common Core curriculum, which supporters of Common Core wrongly kept insisting was not curriculum.

What do these groups all have in common? They are all products of our culture, one in which the majority of our nation’s K-16 students have been indoctrinated by the Obama administration’s anti-American Common Core and the leftwing professors who populate our colleges and universities. Aided by the Democrats and the leftist media, our nation is now “reaping the whirlwind.”

“conversion of public schools from places of learning into therapeutic institutions for diagnosing and treating perceived social-emotional problems.“

“DESSA is there to rate students on their behaviors but then to offer intervention to improve their scores. Social awareness is one of the key competencies to ensure the students are aware and accepting of race and diversity.”

“too many public schools no longer focus on imparting academic knowledge. Rather, egged on by the federal government and private players, they consider children to be patients in need of treatment to dislodge personality characteristics that don’t match the government’s preferred profile.”_________________________________________________

This piece was co-authored by Jane Robbins, an attorney and senior fellow at the American Principles Project.

In The Wall Street Journal recently, New Hampshire physician Dr. Aida Cerundolo blew the whistle on faux mental-health assessment of public-school students in the Granite State. Some K-8 students are being subjected to blanket screening by untrained, unlicensed personnel, with serious questions about use or protection of the resulting records. And parents not only haven’t consented to this process, they haven’t even been told it’s happening.Continue reading →

My husband is taking online, the Hillsdale College class “Introduction to the Constitution.” It is free. It is one of a number of classes Hillsdale College offers free online.

In light of the gross ignorance of the Constitution in our country — and the frightening results of that ignorance that we are seeing around us — it is important that people become aware of our Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence. We need knowledge in order to be able to stand up to protect and preserve our nation.

For decades, our public schools have been omitting this knowledge from being available to students. In fact, grossly false information about our country, our founding, and our freedom, continues to be taught throughout the schools. Children and adults have for a long time been taught to hate America,not understanding the unique blessing it is on us and on the world.

At the end of this article, see four previous blogs on this site that deal with the lies in AP U.S. History.

Dr. Larry Arnn – teaches “Introduction to the Constitution”

Dr. Larry Arnn is the teacher for the 11 lessons of an “Introduction to the Constitution” class. He has been president of Hillsdale College since 2000. He is the kind of person that you gladly listen to — because of his extensive knowledge, and his enthusiasm for whatever subject he speaks about.

In this series he serves as more of a moderator that one giving a lecture. He is working with freshmen and sophomores at Hillsdale College. The information is a very good review, or foundation if you have little knowledge of the Constitution.

In the second class on the Constitution, a number of people take turns leading the sessions, using a lecture format.

You can access here the list and content of the 11 lessons in the Hillsdale “Introduction to the Constitution” class …or link to each one of them below:Continue reading →

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”Said by Ronald Reagan – quotations by Ronald Reagan40th president of US (1911 – 2004)

We must do our best to stand up for freedom, and protect our children from the “one world” “godless” teachings that are being infused into the minds of students in almost all public schools, and in many private schools — including Christian schools and other religious schools. It begins in nurseries, pre-schools and day-cares – and continues in all forms of public (and even private) education – even at Christian universities and seminaries. The popular media in our country continues the narrative of one world without God.

Eliminate recognition of the existence and intervention of God, and you have totalitarian states.

A friend of mine who escaped Communist China tells a similar story as the young lady from North Korea — this similar story exists across the world — repeated accounts of the fear, brain-washing, and brutality like this young Korean witnessed and experienced as she grew up under Communism in China.

North Korean Refugee Tells Her Story.

Listen to this dear young lady who is a refugee from North Korea. Her account is heartbreaking…and a foreboding warning to us. Centralized control leads to uncontrolled abuses.